"AI technology and the performances of Peking Opera actors will achieve a binary balance in the movie "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty", maintaining the original singing style and matching the magnificent Palace of the Tang Dynasty. We will make full use of light and shadow tech

"AI technology and the performances of Peking Opera actors will achieve a binary balance in the movie "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty", maintaining the original singing style and matching the magnificent Palace of the Tang Dynasty. We will make full use of light and shadow technology to create this film "Epic work." Yesterday, the movie "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" was launched at the Shanghai Chedun Film and Television Base. Director Liang Shan simulated "Wish to Be a Winged Bird in Heaven" AI application scene, "A huge flying bird flies up, the bird hovers in the air, and the blowing wind blows across the character's face."

is jointly produced by Shanghai Film (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Peking Opera Theater, and Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. The Peking Opera film "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" is the first film to combine AI elements with Peking Opera, and AI special effects will account for 80% of the film.

This year, AI's subversion of the film and television industry and whether AI can be used in film production have been hot topics. Previously, the movie " Legend " starring Jackie Chan used AI technology to create a younger version of Jackie Chan, co-starring with real actors, which caused a stir. discussion. How does "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" achieve smooth and lifelike AI visual effects so that audiences are willing to enter the cinema?

The artistic crystallization of generations of famous Peking opera masters

The movie "The Imperial Concubine of the Tang Dynasty" is adapted from the stage version of the Peking Opera "The Imperial Concubine of the Tang Dynasty". The stage version was created by Peking Opera performing artist Mei Baojiu in collaboration with the Shanghai Peking Opera Company and others. Screenwriter Weng Sizai, composer Yang Nailin and others adapted it based on Mr. Mei Lanfang's "The Story of Taizhen" and "The Drunken Concubine". Mei School Peking Opera is both classically beautiful and highly modern in aesthetics.

In the view of Zhang Fan, , director of the Shanghai Peking Opera Theatre, making "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" into a Peking Opera film is another inheritance and innovation of traditional culture. "The Peking Opera "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" has a pair of wings with film and AI technology. We are confident that it can go to the whole country and even the world."

The movie "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" is led by Mei School Qingyi Shi Yihong and Yang School Laosheng Li Jun Starring Chen Shaoyun, An Ping, Xi Zhonglu, Yang Donghu and other co-stars, it will be shot and produced in 8k and is scheduled to be completed on December 1.

movie makes appropriate changes to the Peking Opera script to make the plot more compact and coherent, while highlighting the expressive power of film art. A huge "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" and stage renderings hang in Liangshan's office. He and the film crew listened to the Peking Opera arias repeatedly.

"From 2001 to now, "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" has witnessed my artistic experience from youth to middle age for more than 20 years." Shi Yihong revealed that during the busy tour, she kept in touch with Liang Shan by phone to communicate creative ideas , "Director Liang Shan is very serious and respects the actors very much. He told me that if I want to make this movie well, I have to recite the whole play, including every line. "In the eyes of Li Jun, who plays Li Longji, "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" carries generations. The hard work of Peking Opera masters, "This is a landmark work that conforms to the aesthetic orientation of the contemporary public. The inheritance of "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" is a historical The responsibility given to us. "

ai is mainly used for pre-production creative

The four studios planned to be used in the Peking Opera movie "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" include live scenes and green screens. "Almost every scene has a green screen, which will be combined later. Special effects animation is used to complete the background production. This method will be more realistic and immersive than the scenery background used in traditional opera movies. "Assistant director Chang Ran is responsible for the visual part of the film. Two months before the start of filming, the directing team has already completed the production. Everyone got into working mode and held many creative meetings on art and visual effects, including the participation of AI.

"In "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty", AI was mainly used in the early stage to expand our creative ideas." He introduced that teachers and students of Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts provided support for the film crew in AI technology, which has also been their subject in recent years. Implementation of exploration results. "We have achieved a combination of industry, academia and research on this project. After we proposed the scene concept, they used different AI software to generate visual references. For example, when filming Fan Yang's uprising, they needed a war-torn ancient battlefield background. The traditional method was for artists to manually Draw the scene graph. Now just give the AI ​​some atmosphere keyword commands, and it will immediately 'run' what you want. Sometimes the pictures you get will be amazing."

"The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" is an innovative work of Peking Opera 20 years ago. The soundtrack uses a large number of symphonies, which itself has a breakthrough in the integration of Chinese and Western. The use of AI technology in film shooting is also to continue its innovative genes. Just like Shanghai Film Xu Chunping, vice president of the group, said that the combination of cutting-edge technology and traditional Peking opera was chosen to present the special beauty of the work, “allowing both opera audiences and movie audiences to enjoy a higher level of audio-visual feast. "

Regarding the film creation itself, the director team is interested in the significant improvement in work efficiency brought by AI in the early stage. For example, there will be a special effects shot of "clouds turning into fairies" in the film, and the picture slowly focuses from the sky to a cloud. , as the perspective gradually approaches, the clouds will transform into a dozen dancers holding fans. Traditionally, such special effects are time-consuming and labor-intensive, but using AI can quickly achieve it. With AI, the crew no longer needs art. Teacher? Chang Ran denies: “The greater significance of AI is to break through the limitations of thinking and assist innovation, but it cannot completely replace human labor yet. Likewise, it is not a substitute for an actor's performance. AI is a very important and easy-to-use tool, but film shooting involves coordination between various departments, and AI's control capabilities are not that powerful yet. "The end credits of this film will add a list of people working in AI-related jobs," "AI will be involved in more and more movie jobs." ”

It’s important to take the first step

Today there are many videos on the platform with the name of “AI movies”, but they are still far from real movies. On the one hand, it is difficult to make long clips with current AI video technology; On the one hand, the pictures produced by AI have the problem of being "fake at first sight". During this year's Shanghai International Film Festival, Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, once said that although AI is widely used for local improvements and efficiency improvements in creation, "it needs to be large-scale." The demand for screen-level pictures may take another two to three years. "

Although AI is not ideal at present, Chang Ran believes that "the future belongs to AI." With the rapid development of algorithms, there may be an exponential leap in a few months. "Directors must embrace AI technology, which is the general trend. . If you are good at telling stories and have very good shot ideas and script ideas, AI will help you skip many technical steps and make you feel like a fish in water. "Although the "AI Jackie Chan" in the previous movie "Legend" was controversial, in his opinion, this was a very bold breakthrough attempt. "Although the results were not satisfactory, it opened a way for everyone. If we discuss when AI will start to enter domestic movies in the future, people will easily think of ‘AI Jackie Chan’. It is important to dare to take the first step, and "The Princess of the Tang Dynasty" is also bravely taking the first step as a drama film. "

Before the opening ceremony, Liang Shan pulled Li Jun, who had put on makeup, in front of the camera: "Look, it's all green screen here. Yang Biyun, Party Secretary of the Shanghai Peking Opera Theater, said with a smile: "Ode to the Pear Blossom" will once again be broadcast to the land of China through the big screen."

text/Zhong Han Zhuge Yi

(Liberation Daily)